Kan: I will grow corn in the Garden of Wellness & Spirituality

“I will do what I have always done,”

the Elder replied, “I will grow corn.”

DATE: 10 Kan. The Ruler is Yellow. The Blocker is Yellow. The Gatekeeper is Mars.

Journeying through the Tzolkin, the 260 Count of Days according to the Mayan tradition–Today is the fourth day of a 20 day cycle. The name of the day is Kan and it’s associated with maize (corn) and seeding, and also means lizard and net. Let’s see where this leads!

My dear Elder, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, once shared with our Circle about the time a Hopi Elder was interviewed by a reporter in regard to the Year 2012.

“What will you do in preparation for 2012?” the Elder was asked. “I will do what I have always done,” the Elder replied, “I will grow corn.”

We can “grow corn” in both a literal sense, as do the Hopi. Or we can plant seeds and grow corn figuratively in our lives, either in terms of projects and goals or our own spiritual development. Sometimes these all go hand in hand.

When I moved away from my homestead in West Virginia to take care of my parents in my old neighborhood, one of the big things I knew that I would miss was my garden. When a tree blew over in my parents’ yard, and the whole thing was removed, roots and all, it seemed like an ideal place to start a small corn patch.

Selu is the sacred corn of the Cherokee. There are lots of stories about Selu, Corn Mother. Kan is the Lord of the Maize of the Mayans. Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has said that the Cherokee are descendents of the Mayans. And it is interesting to compare the stories that are told of Selu and those associated with Kan.

Many years ago, I found an heirloom seed saver who cultivated and sold the ancient Cherokee corn, Selu. He was meticulous in his methods, saving only the best seeds from the best ears of corn. I feel blessed to be able to grow Selu from his seeds and have done so perhaps five times over the years. The seed keeps, in the meantime, in the freezer.

According to the seed saver, Selu is kept in all the frozen seed banks of the world. I hope his information is accurate. At this point in time, American grown corn is close to 100 % GMO, a genetically modified organism. It’s dangerous to save seeds from these GMO hybrids due to “patent infringement” laws. You could be sued by a megalithic agri-company. And even if you did try to save the seeds and grow the corn, you’d likely end up with a patch of very weird plants because hybrids do not reproduce true to their parent plants. On top of this, there are animal studies that demonstrate GMO corn to be highly unhealthy.

Doesn’t it seem as if we have drifted way too far from our connection with Nature and the means of simple survival?

The first year I grew Selu at my parents, it did well. That’s me in the picture with my corn. But this past summer my corn patch met with disaster. We live in a neighborhood with lots of trees and lots of squirrels. A wild brushy hedgerow borders my parents’ yard on the north, near the corn patch, and I have seen a big fat raccoon emerge more than once from that hedgerow. So, I don’t know who discovered the corn first but the squirrels finished it up. They could hop and climb over the fencing easily and right up the corn stalks as if they were trees. They literally had a field day!

In West Virginia, I had a trap that I might have used. But oddly, we live in a forest and have NEVER had squirrel problems. People still hunt for squirrel in my WV neck of the woods…and eat them. But here in the neighborhood, we’ve bred bold squirrels, spoiled by birdseed from feeders and there are no natural or unnatural predators.

Selu is a very tall, beautiful field corn, used for grinding and making flour. But I’d have to cage it and include a 14 foot high ceiling to protect it….unless I get a dog, which is out of the question. I’m thinking of going with a miniature blue corn or just skipping the business altogether, though it saddens me.

So I’m now puzzling over what to do next. I want to grow corn. But I may have to put that on hold.

Maybe I will use the considerable time I would spend in the corn patch for writing another book….?

Maybe I’ll take Oprah Winfrey’s advice and cultivate my calling, to be a spiritual communicator, more fully. As Oprah has said, I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.